A Shift in the Force: Chapter Sixty-Three: Reunion of Friends
AN: There's been a question about me possibly writing a lemon between Sabé and Obi-Wan and the answer is no, I don't generally write sex, its not something I'm really comfortable, so you might get heavy makeouts, you will doubtfully ever get a sex scene, sorry.
Sola's development is honestly the coolest thing in this fic, and I love her a lot :) She might be ending up in a relationship with a woman because what is straight in Star Wars?
It was thrilling to see Sabé again, because it had been months of only getting holo-calls, and Sola knew she was checking up on all of them Mom and Dad, Padmé, and Sola and the girls, but it just wasn't the same as seeing her in person.
She looked different, lighter, happier than Sola remembered seeing her. The swirling black tattoo up the side of her throat, just brushing against her jaw and descending under her shirt, was as dark as ever. She was dressed comfortably, looking like she'd just stepped off a ship hangar, her blasters at her side -the saberstaff was undoubtedly hidden, Sola knew Sabé had doubts about her right to wield it-, there was a new scar at her cheek and one her hands was holding the small boy's at her side.
If Sola didn't know better, she would've assumed that they were mother and son, but she did know better and she knew her sister well enough to know that Sabé didn't have any children. She definitely knew that Sabé had been with other people before, but she'd definitely only just kissed Obi-Wan when she was recovering on Naboo, and he was the one that counted.
And the boy was far too old to have been born during her time apart. What was he? Eight? Nine?
"What kind of trouble have been getting into, Sabé?" Sola drew back from the hug, her eyes lingering on the sharp scar curving up from her cheek towards her nose at a slant.
"Oh, you know, Dark Jedi wanting some Holocrons…what else is new?" Sabé gave an airy sort of wave and Sola furrowed her brow in confusion, looking from her to the boy to the twi'lek that reminded Sola immensely of Talik. "I don't suppose you have a sonic shower we could borrow? I think Caleb can only handle so much sand and grime."
The boy at her side scowled. "I'm fine," he insisted, more to save face than anything else.
"Sure, you are." Sabé flicked his nose and he wrinkled it before yelping when she quite literally lifted him up and over her shoulders. "Doesn't mean you're not getting a sonic shower, brat."
"How'd you know I had a ship with a sonic shower?" Sola had never told Sabé about getting the ship. Their mother still didn't approve in Sola's switch in her line of work, but being a stay at home mom wasn't going to pay the bills. Then she paused. She'd told – "Padmé?"
"Padmé," Sabé agreed with a smile and Arthree made a trilling noise beside them. "Sonic shower?" Evidently, she had a one-track mind.
"Yeah, sure," Sola said a bit absently, glancing towards the Twi'lek woman that had clearly come with Sabé, Arthree whistling cheerfully at her side. "This way—"
Cham reached out to snag Sabé's shoulder. "Find me when you're done and rested," he insisted. "Ises will want to see you."
Sabé smiled. "All right."
Then Sola was leading the unlikely quartet through the marketplace in Tann Province to the outskirts where a YT-2400 Light freighter could be seen.
Sabé gave a low whistle. "Nice model, still like mine better."
Sola arched an eyebrow, a thousand questions on her lips, because the last time she'd seen Sabé, her sister had been hitching a ride to Alderaan with the royal family, and, as far as anyone in the family had known, Sabé hadn't been flying on her own, she had never spoken about her travels in such a way. But that wasn't something she thought was smart to ask about in the open.
By the time they'd reached the ship's ramp, the boy -Caleb- was snoozing where he was still hanging over her shoulder.
Sabé and the Twi'lek -Rachi- had a brief squabble over who got the sonic shower first, which Rachi was insistent on it being Sabé, since she could get cleaned up faster than Rachi and eventually Sabé relented after carefully depositing Caleb on a spare bed in the same kind of gentle manner that Sola displayed when putting her daughters to be.
Sola waited a bit impatiently for Sabé to finish and then Sabé was standing, framed in the doorway, wearing some of Sola's clothes while hers were washed and dried with Rachi's (they'd sort out Caleb's when he was conscious again).
"Kid still sleeping?" Sola asked as she fiddled with her datapad, sitting in the pilot's seat, Sabé stepping closer on light feet until she plopped herself into the passenger seat.
Arthree had happily plugged himself in, it seemed that he was running dangerously low on battery power, which Sola didn't find surprising (who knew how long he'd been out on his own with Sabé, his battery draining with every night).
"He's enjoying the soft mattress, I think," Sabé laughed, looking out the viewport to watch the sand being blown around by a gust of wind. There was a sandstorm coming in. "Its been awhile since he's slept in one."
Sola arched an eyebrow. "Do I want to know why everyone seems to think Caleb is your kid and what you're doing with a wounded Twi'lek that looks very similar to Talik?"
Sabé smiled faintly, painfully. "I thought it was a bit obvious when I looked her in the face…but I wasn't about to pry about that…Caleb's a bit less complicated, but the whole story is kind of long," she admitted.
"I've got nowhere to be," Sola promised.
Sabé's fingers toyed briefly with the toggle switches. "I was on Alderaan for a little while, I even saw Aayla before I left…it was good to see her." That was one of the largest downsides to leaving the Order was that Sabé hadn't been able to speak much with her friends. Aayla had only seen her briefly and she hadn't stuck around long enough to speak with Kit when she'd been helping out Depa. "I left Alderaan on a ship I'd bought, the Dawning, I didn't really have any definite plans, I've mostly been mapping the Unknown Regions."
"You must've gotten a kick out of that." Sola bared her teeth in a grin. Espionage was a niche that Sabé had truly made a place for herself, but Sabé had always had a greater love of exploring the unknown, and that was what it meant to be a Shadow, her real passion had been in the search and discovery of ancient Sith artifacts.
Sola could understand how that could bother someone, how someone could find that worrisome, if that someone was a Jedi, but Sabé was no longer a Jedi, she could do as she pleased; that in and itself must've been so freeing and Sola couldn't be happier for her sister.
"It's been…interesting," Sabé admitted, bobbing her head slightly, making her wet curls bounce. "I also had a chat with a powerful Force being called Bendu, which is probably where all the trouble started."
"Does this have anything to do with why your eyes are golden now?"
Said eyes crinkled as Sabé smiled. "Getting there," she said. "Bendu thought I'd find some answers on Malachor, ever heard of it?"
Sola's brow furrowed. "Should I have?"
"I'd be surprised if you had, it doesn't really have the ability to sustain life anymore, but that's what happens when you fire a superweapon knowing its going to crush every combatant in and around the planet's gravity field." Sabé combed her fingers through her hair without much interest, toying briefly with the beads tangled in the single small braid in her hair. "Malachor's a barren wasteland, but it used to be the site of a Sith Academy…I found a lot of things I wasn't expecting to."
Sabé leaned towards Sola, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "I found the essence of the woman once known as the Jedi Exile, Meetra Surik."
The name had significance to Sabé, but not to Sola. Of the three sisters, Sola certainly knew the least about the Force and the Jedi and the Sith, though she was trying to learn, Pooja was Force-sensitive, after all, and Sabé was a former Jedi; the Force was strong in her family, and it wasn't something she could very well deny.
"Essence? Like—"
"Like I was talking to the ghost of the Jedi Exile herself, it was…amazing!"
Sola hadn't seen her so breathless in her awe before, it was a curious thing to witness, the things that excited Sabé so much.
"But it was also strange," Sabé had to admit, "Meetra Surik is sort of infamous in the Temple, like Darth Revan, they were these stories they told us as younglings, of what not to do, of where they went wrong…but beings are flawed, the Temple can't deny that forever, one day its going to bite them in the ass." She cleared her throat. "Anyways, I found a holocron on Malachor—"
"Another one?" Sola blinked in surprise. Exactly how many holocrons do you have?"
Sabé made an odd sort of high pitched noise to go with the careless wave of her hand. "Uh…I guess like three and a half? Something like that?"
"How can you have half of a holocron?" Sola asked dubiously.
"Well, its this cube that doesn't really store information like holocrons, it's a transmogrifier," Sabé explained, examining Arthree where he'd shut down, opening up his base in a way that made Sola stare. She'd once seen Sabé threaten to shoot someone for touching her droid. And then she stared some more, because out of the wires, Sabé pulled free two objects. One was pyramidal shaped and gleaming with red energy, the other was cubed and pulsed with white light.
"How did you fit both those in there?" was the first thing Sola asked.
"With difficulty." Sabé had initially removed the holocron from Arthree, but it was a bit precarious to keep all three objects together: the holocron she'd made, the Malachor Holocron, and the Chu-Gon Dar Cude. However, she had found that the Chu-Gon Dar Cube was actually quite effective at cloaking the Dark aura of the Malachor Holocron, which was incredibly useful for Sabé. She wasn't expecting any Dark Jedi to come looking for her, not where she was on Ryloth, especially since Maw probably thought she was either dead or had taken off running for the hills without a look back…probably the second one, Maw was the type to dole out the insult of 'coward' without a moment's thought. "This one is the Chu-Gon Dar Cube."
She dropped it into Sola's hands like it was a datapad that she'd found on the floor and not something she had literally Force-lifted out of molten lava.
Sola cupped it in her hands, startled faintly, but enough that she almost dropped it. "What the—" Her jaw dropped. "It…It feels like a beating heart!"
"Yeah, holocrons have a kind of pulse to them, but I didn't realize how strong it was for the Cube until I was holding it." Sabé's eyes were gleaming in the light of the Cube.
Sabé's eyes that were golden now instead of the brown Sola had always known.
"So…your eyes," she said finally, handing the Cube back to Sabé, eyes flicking briefly over the red pyramid Sabé was tucking away. There was something about it that made her uneasy. Sola couldn't quite describe it, but it was a sensation that she could feel down in her bones with certainty.
"My eyes," Sabé agreed, placing the Cube beside the other two holocrons, "I'm not entirely sure how it happened…it was like I was having a vision." Her eyes slid out of focus and Sola found she didn't mind the color. "It was like I found a medium…not a Jedi, not a Sith, but both." She gave Sola a smile that lit up the golden eyes.
It was almost poetic, the way she'd described it. Sabé had a way with words when she wanted to.
"And your two…companions?" Sola asked. There wasn't really a right word to describe the pair.
"Well, Caleb is an Initiate at the Jedi Temple who was a bit too curious for his own good…he decided to sneak aboard one of the ships in the hangar when Maw thought it was a good idea to yank me out of hyperspace and shoot me out of the atmosphere, I'm still bitter about that." Her grin was vaguely demonic, Sola thought, which probably summed up her feelings accurately as she gestured to her face, where the scar was. "I got this for my trouble, but his friend lost his head, so I guess that's fair."
Sola strangled her laugh into some kind of cough but she didn't think it came out completely right.
"Rachi Sitra is an Altisian Jedi we ran into," Sabé continued to explain while Sola ran a schematic on her ship to make sure everything was working. "She was looking into some disappearances of young Twi'leks via slave traders. Unfortunately, she caught onto her and shot her. Her blaster burns are still healing but she'll live."
"Altisian Jedi?" Sola had heard Sabé gush about a lot of different things, but she could be certain that 'Altisian Jedi' had never come up. Sabé tended to stick to history, ancient history, telling stories about how the Jedi and Sith came to be, beautifully tragic stories for some and just horribly tragic for others. Sabé could spin any tale that she saw fit, it probably was a helpful talent when she was working in espionage. "Is that like a different branch of the Jedi Order?"
Sabé snorted but then she glanced back. "Caleb's awake," she said and a few moments later she was proven correct as the small boy stumbled tiredly into the cockpit.
Out of the corner of Sola's eye she saw Sabé soften, like when she played with Ryoo and Pooja. Sabé caught Caleb as he tripped over his feet, settling him easily in her lap as he yawned widely. "Get any sleep, darling?" Sabé asked, her cheek resting against the top of Caleb's head. They were adorable.
"A little," Caleb mumbled, tucking himself against her chest like he was the most comfortable there.
His eyes were a bright color, like Talik's, a sort of teal that Sola had never seen before in eyes, and they were fixed on Sola, looking her up and down. Sola got the feeling he'd barely gotten a good look at her before he fell asleep. He could probably see some of Sabé in her appearance; Sabé and Padmé looked the most alike, which was startling when you saw them together and weren't prepared for it, but there was a semblance with Sola that couldn't be denied.
"This is my sister, Sola." Sabé rocked slightly in a way that would be soothing to the boy. He looked very small in her lap. "We're going to be hitching a ride with her off Ryloth, how does that sound?"
"Can we get real food?"
Sabé bared her teeth in a grin. "Yeah, kid, we can get some real food."
"Priorities," Sola winked.
"But right now, you're going to get a nice sonic shower and you can sleep as long as you like, hm?" Sabé grunted as she set him upright, standing up with him.
"What about just going back to sleep?" Caleb whined.
"You'll like it better when you're clean, but you can sleep after you shower, all right?"
Sola watched her steer Caleb in the direction of the sonic shower with a fondness that she knew well. It was a number of minutes before she returned.
"Sorry about that," Sabé apologized, "Caleb was really tired. I barely got him in the shower and out before he passed out…and Rachi's borrowing another of your spare beds. She put herself in a healing trance, I hope you don't mind."
Sola shrugged. "There's no one else here to use them…is Caleb all right?"
Sabé's smile was rather thin. "He hasn't been sleeping well the past few nights…Force visions and nightmares tend to blur together when you're Force-sensitive."
In the weeks after Sabé had been brought out of the bacta tank, she had slept in terrible fits, waking up with screams and sweating through her night clothes. No one had got much rest until Talik was finally able to find a way to calm Sabé and settle her in a way that didn't involve giving her drugs (they'd tried that only once and it had not ended well).
"He startled me one night and I Force-choked him," Sabé sighed, leaning her face into her hands, scrubbing furiously at her eyes. "I think he was more surprised than anything, but…" Sabé looked down at her hands and sighed.
Sola squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. "Seems like he trusts you a lot," she offered helpfully, if a bit awkwardly; Sola might've played the part of oldest sister while Sabé was still heavily a part of the Jedi Order, but that position still belonged to Sabé, and comforting her older sister in such a way could only be described as awkward. "And he's comfortable with you…does he always sit in your lap?"
"He sleeps best with me, but that might've been more to do with conserving heat during cold nights." Sabé couldn't be certain which one it was.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say he trusts you more than you think," Sola snorted, the corners of her lips twitching. "This kid grew up in the Order, right? He's told what to do, what to say, how to think, and you're like the exact opposite of that…trust a mother's intuition, he likes you."
Sabé rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched into a smile. "I told Cham him and Talik are my two kids, so if you can stick with that, everything will be fine."
Sola snorted. "Okay…do I really want to know how you are so chummy with the General and his wife?"
"Eh, probably not." Sabé's eyes twinkled, "but I think I'm going to follow Caleb's lead and try and get some shut eye."
Sabé fit right in with the freedom fighters, something Sola noticed immediately when everyone was rested up (Rachi was still in a meditative trance, but Sabé assured Sola that that was for the best, that was the best way to heal, after all). It seemed like most people in Tann Province knew Sabé in some way or fashion. Children were being told elaborate stories where Sabé saved their parent's ass, or when she screwed up and had to literally throw them over her shoulder and make a quick getaway.
"Guess you were in Tann Province for a while," Sola mentioned mildly as they moved through the throng of people going about their lives, many pausing at the sight of Sabé and eagerly speaking with her for a few short minutes.
"A while," Sabé agreed, Caleb's hand in hers, his head twisting around and taking in the sight of the people and the places within Tann's walls. "You could've just told them you were my sister, it probably would've soothed some tensions."
It probably would've. Cham hadn't been too keen to let an outsider into his city, even one vouched for by the House Renliss Bounty Hunter Guild, which was famous -or infamous, depending on how you looked at it- for keeping its word.
"Gotta make my own way in the galaxy somehow, I can't have my big sister making everything easy for me," Sola replied with a slight shrug, which made Sabé laugh.
But they were distracted by an excited call and green-skinned Twi'lek woman came barreling through the crowd.
Ises Syndulla's smile split across her face and then she threw her arms around Sabé's shoulders, swinging around and hugging her so tightly that Sabé was forced to drop Caleb's hand to return the favor.
They were speaking to each other in rapid twi'leki. Sola didn't completely have a handle on speaking the language, but she could tell that they were conveying excitement at seeing each other and jabbering on about what the other had missed in their lives. Sola could see Ises was very excited to that Sabé had a son.
"He looks just like you!" Ises switched to basic easily and Sabé laughed, because, obviously, Caleb wasn't her child. "Just like my daughter is like me, come!"
She dragged Sabé forward and Sola and Caleb had to follow quickly after her, and by the time they'd caught up with the pair, Ises had delightedly plopped a four-year-old Twi'lek that was the same shade of green as herself.
"Hera," Ises supplied with a beaming smile. "Not much of a talker, yet, but she'll rival her father one day."
Hera Syndulla blinked her big green eyes and Sabé smiled.
"You know, sometimes I wonder if my Talik could ever have been this small," she said to Ises when Hera squirmed, reaching her arms out for her mother, who took her back.
The green eyes found Caleb's over Ises' shoulder and Caleb cocked his head slightly. He'd never seen a color like that, nothing was that green or that vibrant; it was entrancing.
Little Hera raised a hand to wave and Caleb waved back, adding a smile that she replicated before quickly hiding it behind her hand.
"Come, come! There is dinner, dancing, and Cham has a request for you!" Ises gestured for them to follow.
Caleb stuck close to Sabé's side. "Is everyone usually this friendly?"
"With me?" Sabé queried. "Sometimes, sometimes not. I've got friends and enemies in a lot of different places and some know me by Sabé, some know me by another name. But I was partnered with Cham and Ises back in the day…some things, some feelings, they don't go away, even with time."
Sabé had had a lot of partners during her time as a Shadow. Life was so much easier when you knew you could depend on the person at your back, and the Syndullas certainly ranked at the top of that list.
"The conversation might be a bit boring, but you'll be eating something that isn't a ration bar, how does that sound?" Sabé ran her fingers though his hair as Caleb grinned in delight.
There was a lot of laughter, dancing, and delicious smells filtering through the air. Sabé's Rycrit stew was particularly good and Caleb scarfed down two solid bowls before Sabé gave him a third with instructions to take it back to the Outrider, Sola's ship, in case Rachi was awake.
"I'm guessing you want my help in finding and locating the young Twi'leks that were kidnapped recently," Sabé suggested. "What Rachi was looking into before she was attacked and left for dead."
Cham huffed, his eyes darkening. "Finding my people in the slave trade is common place, but I am doing all I can to keep my people safe. The Twi'leks that were taken weren't older than twelve…I don't like to think what branch of slavery they could be exposed to."
Sabé tried not to think of Janildakara, the poison expert of House Renliss, a former slave that harbored a deep resentment towards the industry as a whole. She never spoke of her time as a slave, and Sabé knew better than to pry, but she could tell the experience was the worst kind.
"Taa's trying to legalize slave trade on Ryloth," Ises confided darkly and Sola choked on a swallow of meat.
"You can't be serious! Isn't he supposed to fight for your rights in the Senate?" she demanded.
"I think Orn Free Taa cares more about money than our rights," Cham gritted his teeth. "I have been trying to arrange a meeting between the other clans of Ryloth to convey my wish for Ryloth to cede from the Republic."
Sabé's eyebrows arched. There was no small number of clans on Ryloth. They each occupied a province and were considered the respective chiefs, getting them all to agree on an idea seemed more like a passing fancy.
"I'll do what I can to find the children," she promised, "but it would go a longer way to proving Taa is no longer on your side if you have proof of his involvement with the slave trade…having him ousted from his position would probably give you more say."
Ises' eyes gleamed. "What exactly did you have in mind?"
AN: So…there might be three sides to the Clone Wars, which will be exciting to write. Sabé is definitely mom material and Ises is definitely a different spelling to Isis because Hera's mom having a goddess name too speaks to me.
Baby Hera liking the color of Caleb's eyes was adorable, and don't worry, she'll talk eventually, she's just shy right now.
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
